Tammisaari prison camp

The first captured Reds were transferred to the former barracks of the Imperial Russian Army in Dragsvik in early May 1918. During the next six months, 8,597 prisoners were held in Tammisaari, it was about 11% of all the captured Reds. Conditions in the camp were horrible, general hygiene was bad and there was a lack of food supplies. Inmates died of malnutrition and various disease, including the Spanish influenza that caught Finland in July. According to the War Victims of Finland 1914–1922 internet database, a total number of 2,997 prisoners died in Tammisaari between May and December 1918. The mortality rate was 34%, which was the highest among the Finnish Civil War prison camps. The deceased were buried in a mass grave outside the prison. == Political prisoners ==

After the mass amnesties of the Civil War prisoners Tammisaari penitentiary was turned into a labor camp for political prisoners, meaning the activists of the banned Communist Party of Finland and Socialist Workers' Party of Finland. During the 1920s and 1930s the number of captured communists varied between 100 and 600. The highest number was after the declaration of the 1930 Communist Laws. In July 1933 more than 370 prisoners went on a hunger strike and finally after 11 days, five died of force-feeding. The penitentiary was active until 1940. During World War II the prisoners were transferred to newly established prison camps around Finland and Tammisaari was used as a garrison by the Finnish Army. == Notable inmates ==

• Aimo Aaltonen (1934–1940) • Aleksanteri Ahola-Valo (1939–1940) • Aarne Arvonen (1918) • Ivar Lassy (1920–1921) • Yrjö Leino (1935–1938) • Toivo Hjalmar Långström (1923–1926, 1930–1934) • Julius Nurminen (1918) † • Robert Oksa (1918) • Ville Pessi (1935–1940) • Arvo Tuominen (1922–1926, 1928–1933) • Kaarlo Uskela (1918–1919) • Niilo Wälläri (1923–1928) • Armas Äikiä (1927–1928, 1930–1935) == References ==